Mayor hopes to beat deadlines on landmark park, tollway
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
By BRUCE TOMASO / The Dallas Morning News
btomaso@dallasnews.com
 |
| Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert told the Greater Dallas Chamber of
Commerce on Tuesday that he'd like to see the downtown park taking
shape 'within the space of a couple of years.' |
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert wants to see the dirt flying on the Trinity River
project.
Speaking Tuesday to the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the mayor said
the project, envisioned as a way to transform the barren river corridor into one
of the city's landmark attractions, needs to be started – and finished – much
more quickly than anyone now anticipates.
"None of the timetables that are sitting out there are acceptable," he said,
adding that he wants residents driving over the Trinity River bottoms to be able
to see the downtown park taking shape "within the space of a couple of years."
He offered no specifics on how to make that happen, though.
"We are going to be going forward much more aggressively," Mr. Leppert told
about 260 business leaders and public officials at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln
Centre Hotel. "For us to be successful, we have to move forward very quickly."
In an interview afterward, he acknowledged that, to some extent, the city's
ability to determine the project's timetable is limited, because other
governmental agencies – notably the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the North
Texas Tollway Authority – are involved. Parts of the project require extensive
public hearings and detailed environmental impact statements. And parts are
dependent on funding from state and federal sources over which the mayor has no
control.
"In the next seven years, I have high hopes that a huge part of this project
will be accomplished," Mr. Leppert said.
The Trinity project, the largest public works project in the city's history,
was first approved by Dallas voters in 1998. It calls for construction of a
downtown park with lakes, trails and other recreational amenities; enhanced
flood protection; and a high-speed tollway intended to help alleviate downtown
traffic congestion.
The city hopes to begin construction of the lakes for the downtown park in
2008 or 2009 and finish them by 2012 or 2013.
The Trinity Parkway, the toll road that will run near the river levee on the
downtown side, is to be finished by 2014.
That toll road was the subject of a citywide referendum this month. Opponents
tried unsuccessfully to kill the $1.3 billion highway project, arguing that it
will spoil the park and that its costs are spiraling out of control.
Mr. Leppert said that while much work has been done on many aspects of the
project – for example, the first "signature bridge" by Spanish architect
Santiago Calatrava is already under construction – the city has not done a good
job of communicating that to residents. As a result, he acknowledged, there
remains a widespread perception that the project is dragging on endlessly.
"We're going to be much more aggressive in terms of telling the people what
we are doing," he said.
David Neumann, the Dallas City Council member who was appointed by Mr.
Leppert to chair the council's Trinity River committee, said after the mayor's
speech that he and Mr. Leppert have been quietly meeting with the NTTA, with the
city's private consultants on the Trinity project and with officials from other
involved governmental agencies.
Regarding the toll road, the project's most controversial feature, Mr.
Neumann said: "We will beat that 2014 deadline."
He added: "Our mission is to expedite this. We are working to find ways to
compress the schedule." Like the mayor, he declined to be more specific.
Mr. Neumann did say, however, that in the next month or two, he plans to
bring the full City Council a revised timetable for completion of the tollway.
NTTA officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Mr. Neumann noted that the city and its partners have a financial interest in
getting the Trinity project completed as soon as possible. Highway construction
costs, which are closely tied to energy prices, are rising by about 10 percent a
year. A year's delay, then, on a $1.3 billion tollway could increase its price
tag by $130 million. The city is committed to pay $84 million in bond money,
regardless of the final cost.
Courtesy of the Dallas Morning News, Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Edition.
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